Blue Prints

Mister Charlie finally gets buried under an avalanche of local blues releases and he somehow lives to tell the tale.

Well, after a year long drought for blues releases, December finds a virtual blizzard of new stuff coming from Rebecca Harrell, Dave Keller, Seth Yacovone, Bloozotomy and Volume Three of the Best of the Green Mountain Blues series. And a new live release is scheduled from Tammy Fletcher and the Disciples, although I didn’t receive it in time to review for this issue.

Of course, I’m going to start with my own labor of love (and headaches), Best of the Green Mountain Blues Volume Three. A lot of bands who graced the first two volumes return for Volume Three, along with newcomers Quadra, Kip Meaker, Chad, Chip Wilson and others. The New York side of the Champlain Valley is represented by first-timers High Pool, The Bailey Brothers and the Red Neck Aliens, making this a truly regional effort to help Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, a Colchester camp for children with cancer. To date, Volumes One and Two have raised $4000 for the camp and local music has been warmly embraced world wide.

Speaking of which, “Smokestack Lightning,” a nationally syndicated blues radio show out of Florida ranked Volume Two #12 out of over 70 compilations for 1998. They said it was “...hands down the best compilation by unknown blues artists...” they’d ever heard!
A review of Volume Three appears in this issue of Good Citizen.

Rebecca Harrell released a nice five-song eponymous CD recently. Backed by a veritable who’s who of local blues musicians including Paul Asbell, Clyde Stats, Jeff Salisbury, Big Joe Burrell and Chuck Eller, Rebecca sings way beyond her years. The influence of her idol Dinah Washington shines throughout the mix of ballads and slinky shuffles, with “Blow Top Blues” being my favorite.

Dave Keller has been entertaining audiences around New England for over a decade, both with his electric band and as a solo performer. His first full length release Faith was recorded at Eclipse Recording with Joe Egan and Aaron Flinn and it sounds like his record label’s name: Tastee Tones.

Joined by special guest Eddy Shaw (sax man for the legendary Howlin’ Wolf) on two cuts (whom Dave persuaded to stay in Vermont an extra day after meeting him at the Burke Mountain Blues Festival in July), the band roars through ten originals in fine form. Jay Gleason (drums), Gregg Carpenter (bass), and Andy Harris (keys) sound at home on funk, shuffles, gospel and New Orleans-sounding numbers. The lyrics to “West Helena Blues” stand out as timely and insightful. Eddy blows away on the opening track “I Wanna Know” and sets the mood for the whole album, which has strong songwriting, sound quality and performance.

For those wondering what all the Seth Yacovone Blues Band fuss is about, their second release Yessir offers a nice slice of their live show. The nine originals and one cover show the band meshing nicely on this set captured in May of 1998 at the Metronome. If you were there, perhaps you’ll hear your yell in the background!

As the liner notes say, this album shows first and foremost that the Seth Yacovone Band is a great live band, and the disc highlights the groups improvisational abilities in a big way, with three of the songs clocking in at over eleven minutes long. My favorite was the tongue-in-cheek double entendre of “Pay Per View,” while “All the Pain” and “Cheer Up” show the bottom and top of the emotional spectrum.
Seth plays his guitar smooth and hot throughout the album (must be that Wolcott water!). Luke Boggess (harp), Tom Coggio (bass) and Adam Kay (drums) provide a solid foundation for Seth to play over, though I’d really like to hear Luke and Seth bounce off a keyboard player. 

Last, and certainly not least, we have Ain’t Dead Yet by Jim Branca’s Bloozotomy. This CD raises the bar for local blues albums. Recorded and mixed at Charles Eller Studios, the songwriting, sound quality and performance are fabulous! Half the fun of listening to this CD was following the lyric sheet and the funny, insightful pokes Branca takes at everyday life. Writing about life as if it were musical theater, the nephew of Uncle Ralph (who gave up the “shot heard round the world”) delivers his own pitch for the ages with the eight originals and four cover songs. 

Never afraid to poke fun at his own physical stature (“300 Lbs of Joy”) or women who fight to be equal with men so they can be “...as shallow as we’ve always been” (“Dixie Cup”), Branca also knows how to just have fun (“ Whoopdeedoo,” “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll.”)

Throughout the CD, the emphasis is on a full band sound with Matt Nerbak on drums, Lenny “the Lip” Makowski on saxophone and Mike Bernal on bass. The band provides the foundation for Branca’s quirky singing and guitar playing. Lenny’s woodwinds especially shine.

I give this CD four stars. If you’d like band news and schedule information, e-mail Branca at good2cu@together.net. You’ll also get a steady supply of jokes.

Live wise, Gregg Allman, Jimmy Johnson, Coco Montoya, Roomful of Blues and Jazz is Dead have put on stellar shows. With Club Toast rumored to become a sports bar and Metronome cutting back on their live music schedule, it becomes even more important to support live music of any type when it comes to town. If we don’t, we’ll open our eyes one day to see DJ’s and canned music everywhere as club owners battle to make ends meet. See you in January at Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters, if it happens. Happy Holidays!

“Mr. Charlie” Frazier has a radio show called Blues For Breakfast every Sunday morning on WIZN (106.7 fm) from 9 to 11 and a band of the same name. He’s also Burlington’s favorite window cleaner. Comments, info, questions: mrcharlie-b4b@juno.com.